Bush Set to Use First Veto on Stem Cell Bill
I’m actually okay with Bush vetoing this bill. I mean, he said in 2001 that he wasn’t going to expand federal funding for stem cell research. At least he’s being true to his word. I disagree with his 2001 decision, but at least he’s being honest and consistent.
I’ll discuss my views on stem cell research another time. The real problem I have with this veto is this:
[This veto] would mark the first time the president has wielded a veto pen, putting him far behind his predecessors Bill Clinton (38 vetoes in two terms), George H.W. Bush (44 in one term) and Ronald Reagan (78 in two terms). To a large degree, the lack of a veto reflects the simple fact that Republicans have controlled Congress almost the entire time Bush has been in office and they have been reluctant to send him legislation that might be vetoed.
You know, the real failing of those who don’t like the President may not be that we allowed him to be re-elected, but rather that we haven’t managed to get anyone in Congress who both disagrees with him, and has the backing to do something about it. If all of Congress is behind him, and at this point it seems like half of the Supreme Court is his nominees, it’s no wonder that he’s been able to do so many things that make so many people upset.
I thought midterm elections where when the party that opposed the President typically got some more control of Congress. Maybe we were too busy crying about how poorly he speaks, or how he stole the election.